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Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
Hex Mayflies
Hexagenia limbata

The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.

Dorsal view of a Neoleptophlebia (Leptophlebiidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
Some characteristics from the microscope images for the tentative species id: The postero-lateral projections are found only on segment 9, not segment 8. Based on the key in Jacobus et al. (2014), it appears to key to Neoleptophlebia adoptiva or Neoleptophlebia heteronea, same as this specimen with pretty different abdominal markings. However, distinguishing between those calls for comparing the lengths of the second and third segment of the labial palp, and this one (like the other one) only seems to have two segments. So I'm stuck on them both. It's likely that the fact that they're immature nymphs stymies identification in some important way.
27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.
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Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Mar 30, 2015March 30th, 2015, 6:37 pm EDT
Just wanted to mention an experience I had over the winter and ending today with a new pair of Simms Freestone waders. Firstly I didn't know when I bought the Simms Freestones (my very first pair of Simms) that any Simms product with the name "Freestone" is manufactured off shore and not in the Bozeman shop.

Anyway I found out in September that my new pair of Freestones (I'd worn them just about a dozen times) were leaking in the seat area. I called them and they gave me an authorization number to send them back. I dallied around for months and didn't ship them back until March 19. While I was in Jamaica they called and left a message indicating the waders were "not repairable" but due to them being less than one year old they fell into the replacement category.

I called them today and they told me the Freestones were out of stock in my size and I initially decided to upgrade one level to the "Headwaters" model for $350. Well one thing led to another and when the fellow asked me how much I fished and I told him "about 100 days a season". He told me I should get a better, more durable wader, with more Gore-Tex so I wound up getting the new model G3 with a fleece hand warmer pocket, a zippered fly box pocket and some zinger connection points for $200 shipping included. This sounded like a pretty good deal. One point he made that I liked is at the G3 level there are two bootie sizes for the "Large" size. One is 9-11 and the other is 11-13. My Freestones were only available in 9-11 so my big #12 foot always felt jammed into the bootie. Also the bootie feet on the G3 are a true left and right for additional comfort. He said I'll have them by early next week and it looks like I saved about $60 which I can use for my Montana non resident license.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Entoman
Entoman's profile picture
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Mar 31, 2015March 31st, 2015, 7:22 pm EDT
IMO, Best waders on the market for industrial use Matt. Great job on making lemonade out of the lemons from your experience. I think you'll be very happy with them...
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Apr 2, 2015April 2nd, 2015, 4:36 pm EDT
Received the waders yesterday. Tried them on today in the house and with a pair of heavy synthetic socks my feet felt jammed into my size 13 Simms Freestone wading does. Then I had a heck of a time getting the wader and bootie off of my feet. I was disappointed but decided to call Simms and tell them I wanted to send them back and get credit back to my credit card. So I told the Simms rep to just send me a new pair of the Freestones when a new order arrives. Since I had them almost a year they could only pro rate the refund so I decided even though they too were tight at least I'd get a new wader without any out of pocket expense.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.

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